Dole-drums

November 4, 2008

CNN just called the North Carolina Senate race for Kay Hagan. I think this will prove to be the most gratifying Senate result of the night. Elizabeth Dole's election to the Senate six years ago was an affront to the democratic spirit: she ran as a celebrity (before Tina Fey/Sarah Palin ever hoped to be the white Oprah, Liddy was the white Oprah), barely engaging in any substantive way with voters or the media. And she kept up that act after she was elected, rarely leaving Washington to return to the state she (supposedly) represented. Hagan, who was something like the Democratic poobahs' fourth choice to run against Dole, proved to be a surprisingly strong candidate: the way she responded to Dole's disgraceful atheism ad showed both mettle and smarts. The fact that a Democrat will now be sitting in Jesse Helms's old seat makes Hagan's victory that much sweeter.